Local beaches are not for 'locals only'

I received an email on Thursday evening from a San Diego surfer who requested that UT-San Diego stop publishing forecasts for specific beaches when a big swell is about to hit. My answer is an emphatic no. Here's the exchange.

The local surfer wrote:

On behalf of myself and all the other local surfers in San Diego I have a request that you please do not mention specific surf spots in your articles. Many of the surf spots are already far too crowded and having an article on the front page of the utsandiego.com telling people where the biggest waves are going to be, probably contributes to these crowds.

I responded:

I understand your remarks, but I intend to do the opposite.

The beaches do not belong to experienced surfers. They belong to everyone. I hotly object to the "locals only" mentality. It is elitist. And the fact is, many well-known beaches are not crowded when the surf is good. I have visited Torrey Pines/Blacks each of the past three days to take photos. There were plenty of places where there were good waves (and) no surfers in the water. The same was true at Del Mar. I also publish specifics for individual beaches to give inexperienced surfers and beachcombers a clear warning of where they could face trouble. It is my experience, in 20-odd years of surfing, that weaker surfers don't go into the water when a big swell rolls through.

Hope you catch a lot of waves over the next couple of days.

Gary

I'll close with the forecast for Friday's swell, produced by Surfline.com, which was created by the late Sean Collins, who also did not support a locals only attitude: